Crink… Crink… Crink…
The old weathered rocking chair creaked loudly as the pony sitting comfortably in its embrace pushed her hoof gently against the floor, causing the seat to slowly swing back and forth in a relaxing, if repetitive, rhythm. The pony didn’t care about the creak; she didn’t care about the old wood beneath her in need of replacing or the unbucked apples in need of harvesting or even the forgotten chores in need of being un-forgotten. She didn’t care about anything else in this moment, not even her own tiredness and inner turmoil.
None of that mattered to Applejack as she continued to rock. Her mind was blank as she lay there, enjoying the first chance to rest she had been granted all day long. She didn’t allow herself to dwell on her friend’s sacrifices, or on her brother’s pain. She wasn’t even consumed by the one thing that was usually always on her mind; the one thing that was always nestled at the very core of her being, the one thing that had shaped her into who she was today. The very thing that had been shaken with her brother’s earlier words; the very thing that had been unitentionally brought into question for the mare.
For the first time in a long time, Applejack’s mind wasn’t filled with the thought of family.
She didn’t want to dwell on such a thing for any longer in this moment; didn’t want it to cut her with its double edge. While it had long been the source of her inner strength, the focal point of her happiness; today, on this most horrible of days, it had only served to hurt her. Where once the mere thought of it had warmed her heart, now that flame had scorched her deeply. Where once it gave her the power to move mountains, now it stricken her of her senses. Where once it served as her shield during the harshest of times…
Now it was like a jagged dagger, slowly twisting itself inside of her soul.
Crink… Crink… Crink…
Applejack didn’t want to think about it.
She felt that it was okay not to think about it.
She wanted nothing more than to not think of it.
Crink… Crink… Crink…
For a time, her wish was granted.
… But, while ignorance was bliss, it was not a refuge the farmer could ever find herself living in for too long. That just wasn’t who she was.
And who was Applejack?
Applejack was the middle child of Riosealita Apple and…
‘No,’ the mare thought to herself, shaking her head. ‘That’s not important...’
Crink… Crink… Crink…
Who is Applejack?
Applejack is one of the hardest working ponies around; an honest workhorse if ever there was one. Sometimes rash, sometimes stubborn, but always there to lend a hoof. Always there to be somepony’s legs when they fell. She’s a caring soul, a loving pony, a wonderful big sister…
‘As a little sister though… Big Mac doesn’t think… doesn't lo-...’
The pony shakes her head again, trying to rid herself of these stray thoughts.
Said thoughts would not leave.
With a sigh, the pony watches as her mind began to wander. She was able to do this; was able to ‘watch’ such a thing. ‘Twernt hard in the slightest, she knew. Here, at Sweet Apple Acres, amongst all its nature, memories flew through each trees’ branches like a gentle summer breeze. It was easy for a pony to get lost in this ‘stream’; in this mental river of time. It was harder not to get swept up in such a powerful current then it was to stay ‘dry’. Thus it didn’t surprise Applejack in the slightest when she looked out at the closest tree in the field and saw herself bucking the sturdy bark alongside an always chipper Apple Bloom… and a smiling Big Macintosh.
Crink… Crink… Crink…
Rocking back and forth, simply allowing the memory to play, the orange mare watched neutrally as the three siblings worked themselves sweaty, toiling in the fields they had known all their lives day in and day out. The three of them smiled and laughed together as they went about their business, never prouder to be Apples.
Never prouder to be…
‘No… that’s not important...’
Crink… Crink… Crink…
Time begins to slip as the pony continues to stare, continues to rock. Closing her eyes briefly, for only the briefest of seconds, results in the scene changing completely.
Younger ponies greeted the farmer when she opened her eyes again; younger, but nonetheless happy, ponies. Where once there was a sturdy mare, in her place stood an eager filly. With shiny new cutie mark on her flank, the youthful blond was ready to earn her family’s trust; ready to show that she was an Apple too. With her head bare, her face knitted into a look of pure concentration, the filly spun around on the spot and delivered the strongest buck her tiny body could produce against the opposing tree before her; the strongest buck her inherited earth pony magic would allow her to deliver.
Apples rained down as a result. Soon too did the filly’s tears.
“I… I did it,” little Applejack said proudly in the memory, turning to face her audience.
“Eeyup,” said the small colt beside her, a sleeping yellow foal balanced expertly and carefully atop his strong back. “Eeyup,” repeated the Macintosh of the past, his smile even larger than before.
The filly smiled back.
The mare did not.
Crink… Crink… Crink… Cri-
Applejack stops.
Her eyes are closed.
She breathes through her nose, and out through her mouth. She doesn’t want to open her eyes. She doesn’t want to be taken any further back. Her wishes will be ignored; they’ve been ignored all day long, why would this be any different? The pony didn’t expect anything less from this day, the day that had robbed her of her brother; stolen and replaced him with somepony she hardly recognized. Not the kind stallion she grew to love, but instead a pony seemingly full of hate for everypony around him.
Perhaps even herself.
… Clip… clop… clip… clop...
A noise in the distance lifts the pony’s ears up; the sound of galloping rings out faintly through the trees. With another sigh, Applejack gets up from her chair and onto her legs. Stretching out her back momentarily, the earth pony begins to trot briskly through the memory summoning trees, towards the stomping of hooves. The time to end all this was fast approaching; to end all the pain and sorrow for both Big Macintosh…
… and Applejack.
Reaching a certain tree on her trek, the mare stops mid trot with her hoof hanging in midair. She debates something in her mind momentarily before sighing, resigning herself to turning her head; to contemplating the final scene playing out beside her.
The image of an orange foal, nestled happily against her mother’s side, greets the tired cowfilly.
A younger Macintosh does not.
“...”
Applejack turns away silently. After a time she begins to trot off yet again.
___________________________
Of all the things Applejack had expected to see when her friends came trotting down the path…
… a sole Fluttershy, galloping towards her at top speed, was not one of them.
“What the hay happ-” was all the farmer was able say before the air was stolen from her lungs thanks to a shaking Fluttershy hug. “F-flutter…?” the mare tries to ask as her friend continues to shiver.
Wide, tear devoid eyes greet Applejack as her friend looks at her fearfully. Fluttershy opens and closes her mouth uselessly, trying to say something, but her shakes prevent the words from coming. Lowering her head, the pegasus tries to gather her thoughts again before she lunges forward, laying her head sideways atop the strong earth pony’s neck.
Now able to breathe a little better, the mare with the blond mane attempts to ask her friend again what had happened… only to be interrupted by a quiet whisper.
“It was the worse... I-it was the worst experience of my entire life.”
“... Er… What was that, sugarcu-”
“I-it was the worst experience of my entire life!” wailed Fluttershy loudly, the tears finally falling. She leaned in closer to her friend as they did, causing her to unitentionally knock off the orange pony’s favorite hat in the process.
“...”
Patpat
“Shhhh…” Applejack paid this no mind as she instead began to slowly run a hoof through the river of pink that was the pegasus’ mane, calmly shushing the filly all the while. “Shhhhh… It’s okay, Shy. It’s okay. Let it all out, girl. You don’t have to be brave no more; you’ve done more than enough today…”
“Y-you, you don’t u-understand,” hiccuped the disheartened yellow mare in the embrace. “Y-y-you don’t understand. I… I-I… Sniff...”
Again the farmer shushed her emotionally spent friend, reassuring her as gently as she could. “Take it easy there, Shy. Take your time…”
With a whimper, Fluttershy reluctantly accepts the offer.
Five minutes later, the two ponies could still be found in their embrace. It was around this point that the pegasus of the two felt well enough to speak again. When she did choose to speak though, her words surprised her friend deeply.
“I was given a financial and sociological lecture concerning my animal favoring emotional decision making biases,” Fluttershy answered for Applejack robotically, lacking her once spiked emotions. This caught the cowfilly completely off guard with how ‘Twilight’ it sounded; punctual and analytical... Twilight to a tee, she reckoned. ‘Must be tryin’ to distance herself from the whole nasty thing,’ thought the farmer to herself, making no comment.
“‘K-kind to a fault’,” came the shy mare’s next words, though they weren’t her own, Applejack could tell. “‘Biggest heart I’ve ever done seen, b-but your anti-social lifestyle has seriously hampered the development and growth of your personal worldview in relation to others.” Fluttershy was instead repeating Big Macintosh’s Poisoned Joked rant, she knew; another sign that the poor filly was trying to get as far away from the whole affair as ponily possible, less she break down into more tears.
“‘B-because of this’,” spoke the distraught filly for the absent stallion. “‘I live in constant fear that you’re about to make a terrible decision that will have negative consequences on everypony around you, especially yourself. Please; p-please ignore the fact that these words are coming out of the mouth of a t-t-terrible pony like me and consider them by themselves. Grant this r-ruined stallion that much at least, even if he doesn’t deserve it in the slightest; not after all the bad he’s done, all the secrets and l-lies.’”
Fluttershy takes a shaky breath before continuing.
“‘P-please ignore me and consider this, in regards to how I think you unhealthily exalt animals up above others. Without your friends by your side, you more than likely would have been the fall-mare for the damage the p-parasprites caused to this town a year ago, regardless of Twilight’s magical involvement. We A-apples lost our home in the aftermath of that, along with so many others. How nopony got blamed for the whole thing I-I don’t rightfully know, considering that you being the one who brought them here wasn’t a secret of any sort. Only reason I didn’t report you is because I was honestly afraid that the p-punishment would be too much for you to handle. P-perhaps that was everyponies’ rationale as well...’
“‘I-I also heard that you foalnapped Princess Celestia's bird at some point too. I… I don’t know the full story on that, so I don’t have the right to comment, but I implore you to seriously think about your actions concerning it. The simple fact that it happened at all reflects p-poorly on your character, which is a darn shame.’
“It’s a darn shame that, while you did tame Cerberus, of all creatures; if not for Twilight being there to bring it home I would not have doubted it for a second if you had decided to keep the darn thing as a pet, c-consequences be damned. “It needs me” p-probably would have been your excuse. That’s just the kind of mare I’ve grown to see you as which, again, is a darn shame M-miss Fluttershy’.”
The shaking yellow pegasus is silent for a moment before finding the strength to speak up again, continuing just a tiny bit steadier than she had been prior.
“... ‘It’s also a darn shame that I have to bring up the Vampire Fruit Bats incident now’,” repeated Fluttershy for Big Mac, her voice now lacking even her normal nervousness. It was simply hollow at this point, nothing more. “The one Applejack refused to give me a straight story on... I had to weasle the whole thing out of Miss Pinkie Pie in exchange for an apple pie; not an easy feat, surprisingly. Ha… Ha...’
“... ‘Fluttershy, please understand this, as I’m sure my sister was unable to articulate it properly to you when it was her responsibility to do so. If we had given an entire orchard to those darn Vampire Fruit Bats like you wanted, instead of the portion of one like we ended up giving up, the decrease in profits, thus the decrease in the town’s income, would have been significant enough to s-starve’,” stutters Fluttershy again before sucking in air and continuing to repeat the apple-red pony’s words. “‘S-s-starve out a single family. Said family would have probably been us Apples, c-creating a snowball effect that would have literally destroyed Ponyville. Literally; d-darn place is as fragile as one of our barns in the middle of tornado season. Ha...’
“‘That’s not to say that all of your choices have been bad though, or that you’re completely wrong in your love for animals, Miss Shy; your special talent, your expertise did save us from those beavers, after all, along with so many other creatures. From dragons to gods to Celestia knows what else... I’m just saying that if you make another rash and biased decision without thinking like that again there’s no telling what will happen’.”
The words that leave Fluttershy’s mouth after this come out just as hollowly as the soul crushing last; clearly having been unheard by the pony who they were meant to be for.
“... ‘You’re still a wonderful pony though, one who I see a lot of myself in. I think I understand your shyness better than anypony else, but that would be a selfish thing to admit. All I’m trying to say is that, although it is your special talent and that it grants you your happiness, you really should consider getting out more than you do and try to enjoy the company of ponies over your animal critters all the time. I know you’ll find that you’ll get just as much joy out of the former as you usually do the latter.’
“Keep living in your small world though and you’ll be likely to hurt somepony you now care about, if not completely destroy their l-lives… just like I have. Don’t be me, Miss Shy. Don’t get to the point where you turn into a quiet, backstabbing jerk like me; thinking you can get away with deplorable actions. Please… And… a-and sorry about the flank comment as well, though it’s completely true... Darn it all...’...”
“...”
Nothing more needs to be said as Applejack slowly rocks on her haunches, cradling the shivering Fluttershy in her forelegs with all the love and care she has left to offer.
“I’m sorry,” the shy pony mummbles numbly into her friend’s mane. “I’m sorry for almost… a-almost s-s-starving y-y-y...”
“Nothin’ to be sorry about, Shy,” the apple pony whispers softly in return, reassuring the pony who had only focused on the bad, instead of the good, in Mac’s rant. “Didn’t even realize it mahself... Thank you… Thank you for just being you, each and every day. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Silence reigns as the two continue to sit there in their embrace on the old dusty dirt road.
“... Big Mac is with Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy finally replies after a time, finding the strength to leave the comfort of Applejack’s hooves. “P-past the borders of the residential district, heading this way.”
“I reckoned,” Applejack replies quickly; standing up, picking up her hat, and then casting her eyes out over the rest of the path towards town. “She gave me her word, so I’m gonna do what she asked of me and trust her… Do you think she can lead Mac here all by herself though?”
“Hey; if Pinkie promised it, filly, you’ve really got no right to be doubting her like that.”
Blinking, it takes longer then AJ is willing to admit for her to realize that Fluttershy wasn’t the pegasus who had just said these words.
Rainbow Dash was.
Caught unaware, it was to Applejack’s great surprise when she looked up and found a pony sitting on one of her tree’s branches, looking down on her from on high.
“Rainbow?” the farmer asked with a start. “Y-you’re here too?”
“... Yeah,” is the rainbow pony’s simple reply before casting her eyes over the beaten trail yet again, searching the horizon for movement.
“She joined us while we were leaving the castle,” Fluttershy answers Applejack’s unspoken question, helping to explain the situation despite her still drying tears. “S-she acted as our chaperone when we were heading through town; keeping ponies away from us, especially the ones that didn’t like what Mac was saying to me.” A weak giggle leaves the shy pony’s lips. “I-I apparently have fans... Heh, who knew?”
The yellow mare then sends a content smile the speedster’s way, full of all the warmth and strength left in her drained body. “Thank you so much for doing that for us, Dashie. It made that whole ordeal much easier for me to handle.”
“Eh, it was nothing, Shy.” Dash comments, waving a hoof passively in the air behind her, not even turning to receive the gifted smile as she continued to watch the road. “I’m just glad I didn’t screw up your guy’s plan or something when I came in like I did. I was totally ready to knock some ponies out, filly. I mean, the way Discord made things soun-”
“D-discord?!” AJ stutters with a gasp, cutting her friend off mid-explanation.
Rainbow Dash’s face remained turned as she flips her mane, freeing up her vision from a stray strand of red, and kept her eyes glued to the trail.
“Yeah, Discord,” the blue mare returned to explaining, unphased by the interruption. “I met him in town; told me what happened while I was all… out of it.”
Applejack was still stunned by the revelation, but after a moment she shook her head and gave the weather pony a weathered expression full of tired shame.
“Look... sugarcube?” she spoke to Rainbow’s still turned back. “About Discord... The way Twi-, that we left him earlier… well... Take what he said with a grain of salt is all I’m sayin’. I wouldn’t doubt, or really blame, him if he tried to get revenge on us by exaggeratin' some things to you; tryin’ to paint this whole thing out to be somethin’ downright horrible and awful-”
“So Big Mac isn’t public enemy number one right now?” Rainbow interrupts, finally turning back towards the group below. “Twilight isn’t about to, or already did, explode, and Cheerilee didn’t have her heart stomped into paste? None of that happened, AJ?”
Though her mouth is open, ready to rebuke... Applejack suddenly finds herself coming up short in that particular department.
“... Err… Nope,” the farmer eventually admits. “G-guess that’s about right, actually.”
“Discord told you all that?” Fluttershy suddenly asks, drawing eyes back to her. Seeing this, she explains to Applejack how “Pinkie and I were too busy with Big Mac to ask Rainbow any questions. We still don’t know why she was crying earlier either...”
It was now Rainbow Dash’s turn to cringe.
“Twilight didn’t say?”
The two remaining mares shake their heads.
“Oh… Well… Yeah… about that… You’ll both hear about it soon enough; promise.”
“But-”
“Promise,” the pegasus reassures with finality, turning her head yet again towards the road leading to town.
Before Applejack could object any further…
Clip… clop… clip… clop…
… a hush fell over the gathering as slow, steady hooffalls could be heard in the distance. Silence reigned as the three ponies watched quietly as Big Macintosh and a hopping Pinkie Pie suddenly drew closer.
“... Hey… where’s Rarity and Twi?” Rainbow Dash suddenly asks, breaking the momentary silence.
“Home,” Applejack mutters quickly, her eyes watching her brother carefully. “Twi is sleepin’… Rare is plottin’ murder.”
“... Wha?”
“Big Mac talked to them both,” Fluttershy once again answers for her friend. From her tree branch, Rainbow turns her head towards the butterscotch colored pony’s way as she continued. “Twilight needed to sleep. Needed. And Rarity… well… Spike’s letter said that Big Mac called her hats gaudy. That’s all we really know.”
“Spike’s letters?” asks the other pegasus before a look of understanding dawns upon her face. “Ohhhh, right. Discord did say that he did something like that to him with his magic…”
“It was an accident, Dash...”
Rainbow snorts at this.
“Fluttershy, I may have given him the benefit of the doubt, cuz he was looking all mopey and sad and junk, and yeah maybe his magic is all busted up right now, but an accident? Like, a complete accident?” Rainbow Dash then proceeded to bark out a loud “Hah! Sorry, Shy, but I’ll believe it when I hear it coming out of the dragon’s mouth...
“... Speaking of; where the hay is Spike anyways?”
The silence in the orcharchard suddenly returns ten fold at this question.
Fluttershy and Applejack blink blankly in this sudden sound vacuum, before turning to face one another. In the silence, the two mentally traced their individual memories together before simultaneously remembering the drake’s ultimate fate.
Said fate they only now realize that they hadn’t done anything about.
“... Oops…”
Meanwhile, in the Friendship Death Castle
In a pile of scrolls, a dragon sleeps.
In a pile of scrolls, a dragon snores.
In a pile of scrolls, a dragon’s stomach begins to rumble…
“... Burp!”
In a pile of scrolls, a pillar of green fire shoots forth from the sole dragon within it.
A new scroll emerges from the emerald flames…
… a single scroll from the pile disappears within the magical blaze.
Spike watches through sleepy eyes as the unfortunate scroll turns into vapor and flies away on a stray wind. With a large yawn, ignoring the scene that had just taken place, the young boy stands up out of his makeshift bed of paper and stretches his scaly body out. As he does, scrolls upon scrolls roll off of him and scatter themselves across the floor. The new scroll that had just arrived soon disappears within the flood of paper upon the ground, become indistinguishable from the rest.
Indistinguishable… save for the few unfurled ones laying face up before the drake.
With his right claw throbbing from an unknown pain, the last several hours a blank in his mind, Spike reaches out with his left towards one labeled ‘Dear Miss Cheerilee’ in idle curiosity.
… He moves his appendage towards a second one though when his eyes spy Rarity’s name atop it.
“... Dear Miss Rarity…” the dragon began to read to himself aloud, his eyes devouring each and every word as they danced acrossed the single long page.
“...!!”
Not long after, the Friendship Death Castle finds itself empty yet again as its sole conscious inhabitant zooms off to parts unknown.
________________________
“You left him like that?”
“It was an accident, Dash! Mah head was elsewhere!”
“Mine too,” Fluttershy admits gloomily, her voice full of regret. “M-maybe I should go check up on him and Twilight when we’re done here.”
Applejack cringes.
“Um… er… y-you could actually leave now if you wanted, Shy,” the farmer tries to convince in a rather sudden nervous manner. “I can handle things from here… promise.”
The two pegasi turn to look at their friend more closely at this, curious of her suggestion. When she didn’t elaborate further, Fluttershy decides to continue speaking. “N-no, AJ. That’s fine. I want to stay just a little bit longer and make sure everything is okay…”
“You sure about that, Fluttershy?” asks Rainbow Dash, drawing the group’s attention and unintentionally allowing Applejack the chance to breathe again. “I need to… to… Well things are about to get noisy and that’s all I’m gonna say.”
Fluttershy is not deterred in the slightest, and has in fact put on what her friends now knew quite well to be her ‘brave’ face.
“I… I-I’ve been here for most of it already, Rainbow Dash,” she speaks, something akin to ‘confidence’ appearing in her tone. “I want to help; I want to know how he h-hurt my friends... How he hurt you… I want to help you both if I can... i-if that’s okay with you, that is…"
Though she began to shrink under Rainbow Dash’s unyielding gaze, the speedster couldn’t help but smile warmly at the bravery her oldest friend just displayed.
“... Thanks, Shy."
A small smile soon graces the gentle yellow pony’s lips as well, happy to be accepted.
Clip… clop… clip… clop… cli-
Silence fell upon the gathering once again as the steady background noise of hooves in motion slowly winds down into nothing, the owners having finally arrived.
To a casual observer’s eyes, Ponyville’s premiere partymancer had returned to her peppy self. With a literal spring in her step and a smile upon her face, the young mare appeared to be ready to go on to host as many ‘Get Well Soon!’ parties as it would take for everypony to get over what had transpired this day.
Her closest friends knew better though.
Her jump’s weren’t as high, her energy not as free-flowing, her smile…
A shell of its normal glory.
Yet she tried. No matter the pain, no matter the tears, no matter the doubts; Pinkamena Diane Possibly-Apple Pie wouldn’t be who she was if she didn’t give it the old college try.
“Hey girls!” the pink pony chimed loudly with a beaming, if weak, smile. “W-we’re here… Did you tell her, Fluttershy?”
“Yes I did, Pink-”
That was all the answer Pinkie needed to hear. With a yelp, Fluttershy soon found herself in the softest bear hug she had ever received from the earth pony.
“Good,” softly spoke the pink mare in a rare moment of calm for her. “You good then?”
“... Yes.”
“...”
With a long sigh, Pinkie Pie buries her face slowly into Flutter’s mane and lays there. “Good...”
THUMP
The sound of something heavy hitting the ground catches three of the four mare’s present’s attention. Turning, and looking over Pinkie in Fluttershy’s case, towards the road; three sets of eyes soon fell on the heavily panting, and surprisingly not talking, exhausted form of Big Macintosh.
“M-mac?” quickly asks Applejack, galloping to her brother’s side. “What’s wrong with ya’?”
“You mean besides the obvious?”
Rainbow Dash receives a death glare from Applejack thanks to this, only to promptly brush it off with a shrug.
“Can’t… breathe…” comes Big Mac’s eventual answer; sputtered out between gasps for air. “Pinkie… P-pinkie had me… me…”
“I tired him out!” cheered Pinkie Pie loudly over the stallion, her voice containing a small fragment of her normal bravado for once. She then disengaged her hug with Fluttershy, reached into her fuzzy pink tail with her teeth, and then pulled out a long piece of white cloth. The girls stared at it for quite a time before Fluttershy made the connection.
“Is that… one of the bandages from Misses Cake’s first-aid kit?”
Pinkie nodded her head happily, allowing her mane to bounce around freely. “Yup yup!” she confirmed with something that was starting to look like her normal smile. “I grabbed one before we left, in case of broken glass emergency. Tail wiggle, ear flop, twitchy knee,” she added passively with a wave of her hoof, detailing the exact Pinkie Sense reaction before continuing. “I used it to wrap our hoofsies together for a surprise six legged race!”
“So fast… too fast…” came Big Mac’s borderline delusional response; one that was only given a passing notice from the other ponies.
“Good thinkin’, girl,” complimented Applejack, honest grin beaming. When Pinkie looked over at this though, her own bubbly one slowly dropped.
“... Not really,” replied the party planner gloomily, looking down and absentmindedly making small circles in the ground with a hoof. “I… I-I really should have thought it up sooner. I probably could have saved Fluttershy if I had… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Fluttershy swiftly answered, surprising everypony with the strength the words seemingly held. “... It was something I needed to hear.”
This elected gasps
“But Sh-”
“Flut-”
“No, Applejack, Pinkie” smoothly cut of the yellow pegasus with a soft stomp of her hoove. “I… I needed to hear it… I think we all needed to hear it, in some way… e-even me…”
The two earth pony fillies of the gathering share a look for a moment before becoming somber over the whole event…
… It was then that they came to the realization that one of their own hadn't gasped.
Three mares quickly looked at their fourth, only to find her gone. It doesn’t take long for Pinkie to point a hoof past the other two, towards where Big Mac now lay.
Turning, Fluttershy and Applejack soon found their true blue friend quietly hovering over the still panting stallion.